Embarrassing moment for Srilankan President

The district as well as the police and TTD authorities nearly experienced a major embarrassment on Sunday when the visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena waited for the vehicle driver to turn up at the convoy outside the temple complex after the Suprabhata seva. The incident, which took place in the wee hours of the day, clearly reflected lack of coordination between the police and temple officials. President Sirisena was inadvertently escorted to the car by the temple officials even while his family members and other dignitaries remained inside the temple complex. The police officials, who realised the lapse, immediately called for the driver who was along with other members of the President’s entourage.

The Tirupati SP (Urban) Jaya Lakshmi admonished the temple officials for the lapse and termed it as an incident of miscommunication, when contacted by The Hindu. Normally the VIPs, soon after the darshan of the deity are made to sit at the Ranganayakula mandapam for the post-darshan formalities like presentation of memento, prasadam and Vedasirvachanams by the temple priests. According to the original itinerary, the President was scheduled to take part only in the Suprabhata seva inside the temple followed by the post-darshan formalities.

Last-minute change

But there was a last-minute inclusion of the VIP break darshan in the schedule and the change in the post-darshan formalities was not properly communicated. “Had there been even a sniff of the postponement of the formalities the security arrangements would have been amended accordingly to suit the changes. I have also taken up the issue on a serious note with the TTD authorities to avoid their recurrence in future,” she said.

In fact, the Sri Lankan High Commission staff, who were well aware of the shortage in the police staff (with majority of the personnel being drafted for Krishna Pushkaralu in the State) was in all praise for the security arrangements made for their President’s visit, she added.

Here, it may be mentioned that even during the maiden visit of President Sirisena to the hill temple in February 2015, the temple authorities were subjected to embarrassment when they were forced to cut open the lock of the golden door leading into the sanctum sanctorum of the hill temple which got stuck minutes before his arrival at the temple complex.

Courtesy : thehindu.com